In May 2026, the Bishops of Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province appointed a new Rector for Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu, Nigeria. He is Rev. Fr. Dr. Aloysius Ezeoba. He has assumed duty. We congratulate him and wish him God’s abundant blessings.
Very Rev. Fr. Dr. Aloysius Nnaemeka Ezeoba was born to the late Mr. Thomas and Mrs. Eunice Ezeoba of Amofia-Agu Affa in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria, on April 24, 1978. Born to a staunch Catholic Family, after his Primary Education, the zeal for the Catholic Priesthood led him to answer a call to his vocation when he entered the Junior Seminary, Sacred Heart Seminary, Nsude, Nigeria, where he did his JSS from 1991 to 1993, and completed his SSS at St. John Cross Seminary, Nsukka, from 1993 to 1996. Between 1998 and 2002, he completed his First Degree in philosophy at Pope John Paul II Major Seminary, Awka, Nigeria, then known as Bigard Memorial Seminary, Awka Campus, in Affiliation with the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, Italy, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. From 2003 to 2007, he did his First Degree in Theology at the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, Nigeria, in affiliation with the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, Italy. He was ordained a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu on July 7, 2007.
After his ordination, he was appointed assistant to the Cathedral Administrator of Holy Ghost Cathedral, Ogui, Enugu, under Most Rev. Callistus V. C. Onaga, who was then the Cathedral Administrator. From 2007 to 2009, he earned a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Nigeria, and from 2008 to 2010, he obtained another Master’s Degree in Religion and Human Relations from the same UNIZIK, Awka. From 2008 to 2012, he was the Administrator of St. Monica Girls’ Comprehensive College, Ogui, Enugu. In 2008, while still residing in the Cathedral parish, he was appointed Notarius of the Inter-Diocesan Tribunal, Enugu. He performed those tasks until November 2012, when he left for Rome to pursue further studies.
While in Rome, in 2014, he earned his Licentiate in Philosophy from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, Italy, and began his doctoral program. In 2017, he obtained a two-year Diploma Certificate in Practical and Administrative Canon Law from the Dicastery for the Clergy, Rome. In the same year, 2017, he earned another two-year Diploma Certificate in the Formation of Seminarians from the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, in collaboration with the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (CEP). In June 2018, he defended his Doctoral Dissertation in Philosophy at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, Rome, on the theme “Human Person as Substance-In-Relation in W. Norris Clarke: A Creative Retrieval or Completion of the St. Thomas Aquinas.”
From May 2018, he undertook a mission apostolate at St. Peter Catholic Parish in Vohburg an der Donau and Menning, Deanery of Geisenfeld in the Diocese of Regensburg, Germany. In September 2020, he also served at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in Waldsassen, Deanery of Tirschenreuth in the same Regensburg Diocese, Germany. In March 2021, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, as a Formator and Lecturer on Metaphysics. In September 2021, he was appointed Assistant Head of the Department of Philosophy, Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. In 2024, he became the substantive HOD of Philosophy, a post he held until May 2026, when he was appointed the Rector of Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu.
His published books are: Introduction to Metaphysics, University Press Plc, Ibadan 2026; Metaphysics: Exploration into the Fundamental Principles of Existence, University Press Plc, Ibadan 2026; Re-Thinking the Angelic Doctor: W. Norris Clarke and the Concept of Person in Thomas Aquinas, Peter Lang: New York (NY) 2023; Substance and Relation: Idea in the history of philosophy, Blessed Hope: Chisinau 2021; African Eschatology: Igbo Perspective, CreateSpace: Charleston (SC) 2018. His published Articles include: “Substance and Relation: Towards an ontological synthesis of the human person as a Relational Substance,” West African Journal of Philosophical Studies 22 (2024), 54-81.; “Philosophical Anthropology: Towards a new methodology of substance and relation,” West African Journal of Philosophical Studies 21 (2023), 1-24.; “God’s absolute immutability vis-à-vis his real relation with the world,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 95 (2023), 29–47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-023-09889-8; “Norris W. Clarke’s Substance-in-Relation: A Viable Model for Reconstruction of African Personalism.” Philosophy Today 67, 3 (2023), 677- 696. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5840/philtoday2023717499; “Causal Power of the Substance of the Human Person vis-à-vis the Physicalists’ Causality.” Kritike 16, 1 (2022), 41-57. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25138/16.1.a2; “The metaphysical concept of Chi: An equal ontological mode to the notion of Community in Africa.” Academia Letters, Article 5347, (2022). DOI: https://doi.org/10.20935/AL5347, and others.